Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

When you floor the throttle, the kickdown switch activates the overdrive relay on the firewall which energizes the coils in the solenoid. Apparently that all works on your car as you can hear it.

Remind you that the R6 will work all day long without any electricity at all. The only reason for any of the electrical controls is to provide kickdown.

We are not lying to you. Make sure you read only the R6 manuals.

Certainly you guys are all providing truthful information, just trying to figure out exactly what I have here and how it works.
The part of the puzzle that is missing is how does the solenoid get its hold in power

Hold coil gets power at the same time solenoid gets the pull in power -- thru the same wire on the SW terminal coming from the relay which activates when you step on the accelerator far enough to move the kickdown switch and bring in the relay. As long as the kickdown switch is active the relay stays on and power will be present to work both coils. The pull in coil will eventually disconnect from power by the plunger opening the pull in contact leaving only the hold in coil using the power. It stays that way until you let off the accelerator enough to release the kickdown switch and drop out the relay.

If you are thinking the solenoid IGN terminal has something to do with power, it does not. It is a completely independent circuit and during the solenoid plunger travel a second set of contacts with one side grounded will briefly open or close and provide that ground pulse as an output going out the IGN terminal and eventually to the ign coil to make the engine stumble so the pawl can be more easily pulled out.

As a note of interest the first Warner overdrives (R1) had no kick-down feature and of course no solenoid or electric controls. I think the R6 was also available without the kick-down for some, other than Packard, models of cars.

Many thanks to you for all the explanation of this OD. Learning a lot, my plan is to take all this info and the two manuals I have and generate a logical schematic.
OD works, did have that problem where it didn't and w/o schematics, plodded through the wires and switches and found the OD switch wasn't working, took it apart (CAUTION to anyone that tries, the 4 metal tabs break easily and the contact near the top is soldered in, se need to be unsoldered before opening). I found a dirty contact and carefully burnished it. Then I found the relay wasn't working and took it apart. at one time, it had a lot of water and everything was corroded. Cleaned it up and all works fine now

As you had the kickdown switch apart, which type of switch does the 39 use? One type has the slider contain two separate contact strips. When the plunger is pressed, both strips move simultaneously to connect the two top terminals as one switch and the bottom two terminals as a second switch at the same time. In that configuration both switches would be normally open and close on activation.

The other type which later ODs use has a single contact strip. It normally rests to short the bottom two terminals making that section normally closed. When the plunger moves, the single contact strip disconnects the bottom two terminals before connecting the top two so a break before connect normally closed and normally open pair.

Has the switch you mentioned first, a simple N.O. DPST.
Simple to service, just be cautious of bending the tabs and be certain to unsolder the top contact from the case before opening